Seeing as I’m leaving Nairobi in 2 short weeks, I better take this opportunity to introduce you to the people who have been some of the most important in shaping my time here and making me feel so ‘home’ in Kenya—my Nairobi family.
Wangari-- At 9 years old, Wanga is so full of spunk and sass, but also love and thoughtfulness. She loves to tease me. One of Mugambe, Wanga, and I’s favorite games to play together is house. She likes to take the role of ‘big sister’ (me) in these games, and then make comments about how she’s going to go get another glass of water while looking at me with an impish grin. I should explain—Kenyans don’t really drink water. Those of you who know me well know that cold water is possibly my favorite thing in the entire world. My host fam is continually shocked by this, to the point that my host mom asked me if I had a medical condition that made me so thirsty. Wangari thinks this is hilarious. She has the most beautiful voice and one of our favorite things to do together is turn up the radio and having singing and dancing parties. When I return home from school each day, she eagerly asks if I have any Swahili homework that I’d like her help on. I often take her up on the offer, and she loves the opportunity to teach her 20-year-old sister a thing or two. I brought some InStyle magazines from home, and she recently discovered them and has been loving flipping through them with me, commenting on all the latest fashions and pointing out the celebrities she recognizes. She’s such a sweet girl, and I’m so lucky to have Wanga as my little sister.
Mugambe-- Gambe is 4 years old and the light of my days. He’s my wake-up call most mornings—his mom said he’s not allowed to wake me up, but that doesn’t stop him from standing outside my door and hollering “Mooooolly! Are you awake! I hope you are awake!” When I sleepily stumble out of my room he gets more excited than I usually am on Christmas mornings—just so excited to have his playmate and to start his day. He has the cutest mannerisms. My bedroom is adjacent to the bathroom, and I get to hear him singing songs as he uses the toilet. When he’s really sleepy he ‘forgets’ how to feed himself, and Kawira, our househelp, and I take turns feeding him his dinner, “like a babyyy!” he squeals. We spend most of our time together fighting monsters or crawling around on the ground being puppies, both of which could keep him occupied for hours. My family usually just has plain white bread or wheatabix (a completely inedible Kenyan ‘cereal’) for breakfast, so I usually grab a spoonful of the peanut butter that I brought along with me in the mornings. Gambe recently discovered my secret, and now I can get him to do anything I want by offering a taste of my ‘special American peanut butter’. (Usually I just use this power to get him to settle down when I’m working on my homework… I haven’t abused my power yet!) If I’m ever tired or feeling down, Gambe will soothingly rub my head and tangle his sticky fingers in my hair until I see that the world is good again.
Mama Kathleen and Dad Richie-- My parents work a lot so I don’t see them as often as I see my siblings and Kawira, but they are the sweetest people. Mama Kathleen is very religious. She’s taking night classes and after getting a good grade on a test came home singing “My God is good, ohhh He is so good!” and got the whole family singing along until we were having a full-out gospel jam session. She calls me her child, and has occasionally made Mugambe jealous with this—when she and I were going to the supermarket one afternoon and she didn’t want the kids to come along she said, “I can only take one of my children, and I choose Molly.” Richie is so caring and fun to talk to as well. We like to watch the news together at night, and he gives me his take on current events. He’s Kikuyuu so he really approves of the current (Kikuyuu) president and administration, so it’s very interesting to get his view on things.
I’m sad that I have to leave my family soon, but I’ll get to come live with them for the last week of the program when we’re back in Nairobi, so that makes it much easier—we’re not saying ‘goodbye’, just ‘tutaonana baadaye!’ (see you later).
No comments:
Post a Comment